Inclined to Acquiesce
by glamaphonic
Summary: Request drabbles. Zuko&Iroh, KohAzula, and MaiZuko.
1. It's Hard Out Here

**Author's Notes:** I opened up a thread on the Distant Horizon forums accepting requests for drabbles/ficlets and figured I'd collect them all in one place.

For storybookgirl, who requested Zuko running from...well, you'll see.

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**It's Hard Out Here**

Zuko's breath came in strangled gasps as he darted through the forest. He could still hear his pursuers behind him and he wondered idly if this was how the Avatar felt all those months Zuko had chased him. Had the young monk sweated with a implacable enemy on his tail?

No, Zuko realized. It could not have been like this, for as much as he hated to admit it, his power, his wrath paled in comparison to the horrors that were pursuing him. He put on more speed and suddenly changed his course, turning away from the path and diving off into the bushes hoping to find a safe hiding place.

He was crouched behind a tree when a hand came down on his shoulder and he bit back a yelp as he turned.

"Uncle Iroh!" he exclaimed as he registered who had sneaked up on him.

"Zuko, it's good to see you relaxing for once," Iroh said cheerfully.

"Do I look relaxed to you!" Zuko yelled, before realizing that it might give away his position and taking on a lower tone. "I'm being chased, Uncle. Crowds and crowds of girls. I've never seen anything like it. All yelling crazy things about how much they love me!"

"Ohhh," Iroh said knowingly. "I was quite popular with the ladies myself in my youth. It's in the blood you know. A good thing too, Zuko, because you never take time to have much of a social-"

"Uncle! I don't need a social life that consists of being mauled by an army of crazy women!" Zuko protested standing to glare at his uncle before remembering himself and crouching down again.

"Well, don't knock it until you've tried it, Zuko, you'll find that-"

"If you're not going to help, Uncle, then please. Stop. Talking."

Iroh nodded serenely. "Have it your way then. I think I'll go and find some dinner. I'm starving," he said and stepped into the road before Zuko could stop him.

"Oh," said Iroh before his voice was drowned out by the screams.

"There's his uncle!"

"He must be nearby!"

"They seem like lovely girls, Zuko," Iroh said, turning to face Zuko's hiding place. "I don't know why you're so afraid."

Zuko did not dignify that with a response as he took off, flinching as one of the girls exclaimed as she spotted him. One of them yelled something about rubbing Zuko's "fuzzy head," and he reached deep inside himself found more speed than he'd previously known he was capable of. As he headed towards the horizon, however, he could swear he heard Iroh's laughter.


	2. Reciprocation

For relaxedguru, who requested Zuko&Iroh interaction.

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**Reciprocation**

The moon is high in the night sky by the time Zuko returns to camp. Iroh sits in front of the fire sipping slowly at his tea and Zuko hopes that he used the money that he begged (he should _never_ have had to do that) to buy some rather than repeating his previous adventure with wild plants.

"Ah, Zuko," Iroh says without turning around, "You shouldn't stay out and about so late. It's not safe."

"I'm fine, Uncle," Zuko says as he sits. "You don't have to worry about me."

Iroh nods slowly, makes a face, and Zuko knows it will change nothing. His uncle has always worried about him (Iroh never adds the, "someone has to," but Zuko hears it in the silences), and Zuko doesn't mind as much as he pretends. He never has, so he takes the tea that Iroh offers silently and leans back against a tree.

The wind whistles through the leaves and Zuko is almost finished his cup before Iroh speaks again.

"What were you up to?"

Zuko averts his eyes, thinks about the broadswords and the mask stashed nearby, about the look of horror on the man's face, and knows that his uncle would never understand.

"Just walking, Uncle," he lies, and stands immediately to grab a blanket from one of the saddlepacks, sets it on the ground and reclines. "I'm tired now. I'm going to sleep."

He rolls onto his side and closes his eyes without once looking at his uncle's face to see if he believes him. It doesn't matter. He did what he needed to (he will never countenance such disrespect).

Iroh has always spent all of his energy looking after him, but Zuko is a man now. He will not be hindered from returning the favor.


	3. Tally

For endlessflame55, who requested something about Zuko and Iroh's relationship.

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**Tally**

Zuko can count the things he knows about fathers on one hand, unwritten laws that govern interaction.

They are to be respected. They are to be obeyed. They are to be feared.

He knows that they should also be made proud, but he has never managed that. The last, that they should be loved by their sons and love their sons in return, is something he tries not to think about at all.

Zuko has never tried to count the things that he knows about uncles.

They command only when necessary. They push for more, but with faith instead of intimidation. They make mistakes. They placate. They protect.

They care.

Once he ignored the tally because he thought it unimportant. He was right. But years have taught him that the rules of uncles do not matter because uncles do not try to govern their nephews at all.


	4. All the Things That Got Cracked

For mutantgoldfish, who requested Azula/Koh.

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**All the Things That Got Cracked**

She would have preferred death.

That was what she sought, to join her noble father. Her final strike was a desperate bid and perhaps that desperation was why she miscalculated. The death of the little waterbender enraged the Avatar as expected, but it also made him cruel, and Azula trembled at the horrible sight of him before he swept her away.

The cave is dank and musty and she wonders how she can still feel in the Spirit World.

The Avatar's voice is cold with rage, echoing with a thousand other voices all as angry, and he says, "I have a gift for you," and flings her forward.

She only sees it for an insant and she is shamed that the last emotion she ever showed was fear.

It is warm where she floats now and she is not sure where her real body is or if it is her real body that she now inhabits. She does not know if she is inside of him or if he is inside of her, but she can feel him always. He taunts and teases, his voice low and rough, and smiles a thousand different smiles at her.

He cherishes her most of all, she knows, because of the way she came to him, because of the innocence she robbed even in her final moments. Sometimes she believes he admires her and the thought makes her shiver.

And that's when he slithers close and twines his body around hers, rubs a face against her neck, and whispers "mine" into her ear with her own voice.


	5. Essential

For Awapuhi, who requested one-sided Mai/Zuko with Zuko rejecting Mai. (This is sort of that.)

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**Essential**

When Mai sees Zuko again it is instinct that takes over. They were seperated on the cusp of adulthood, before the strange new thoughts and feelings could be explored, but past the point where they could be forgotten or ignored.

Standing alone in a clearing with moonlight spotting the ground through the trees, the shock in his eyes when he realizes it is her, the way that he mouths her name to himself...this is all that it takes.

She closes the distance between them and presses her mouth to his like in so many of her dreams. He does not resist, returns with fervor (like he's searching for something), and the heat of his skin keeps away the night's chill. She leaves long scratches on his back and a bitemark on his neck and he never says her name.

After, he stands and turns away, shrugs off her hand when she touches his shoulder.

"We shouldn't have," he says and she hears regret, is terrified to strain for more.

"You wanted to," she replies forcing her voice into an even tone and stepping towards him again. "Obviously."

He faces her and she flinches because there is such sorrow in his expression. "I thought that-- I've wanted a lot of things... I wanted you," he says and she knows he does not mean her flesh. "But when I lost everything, I learned how to go without."

"And now?" she asks, though she does not really want the answer.

"I hoped I could go back, but I can't." He runs a hand over his head, short crisp hair and negative space where his queue should be. "That's why we shouldn't-"

She slaps him before she can realize what she is doing and he rubs his jaw as she hastily pulls her clothing on.

"I'm sorry," he says. "You have to believe-"

"You're not," she interrupts and does not allow her lip to tremble as she releases a catch in her sleeve and knife falls into her hand. "But you will be."


End file.
